Is a hova-bator 1602n with turner a good choice?

[trunkman]

I purchased a hova-bator 1602n for 75.00 on ebay, do you think that was a good choice? This is my first time trying to hatch eggs and was wondering if they work well.

Do they have any drawbacks?

 

[BlueBirdChick]

no they dont have alot of drawbacks I have on since august and its been working pretty well as long as I dont mess with the temp gauge lol. It usually holds it temp pretty well. Im gonna have to add sponges though because its pretty time consuming to make sure that the wells are full of water and not run out because they are clear you cant really see if you have enough water for humidity.

I like mine ive had three successful hatches

so yeah I like it alot, alot better than what I had before which was one of those mini bators

yeah just give it some time to warm up and get to the right temp and humidity before you set your eggs in there.. Mine stays a constent 100 and the humidity is 70 to 75 percent.

hope that helped a little bit pm me if you need any more questions answered.
If you can add me to your buddy list i dont mind

good luck

 

[Baralak]

The GQF hova 1602n is a Very good incubator.. What do you plan on hatching ? AND WHEN!?

When it comes in, I would hook it up and give it some trial runs. ( couple of days) I would check it out in different areas in your hatchery (house .. lol_) to find the most stable location.. Also go get you a hygrometer and a digital thermometer.. How I do my thermometers, is I completely trust the glass one that it comes with, and use the digital one for easy checking.

Once you have found a location, that is the best, test it in lockdown, get the humidity up to around 70 and see how hard it is to sustain it in the location you have selected for oh say an hour.

Then unplug it, and Filler up!

Joe/~ Baralak

 

[trunkman]

I've yet to read the instructions, when I finally wind down this afternoon I'll take some time to read them...I'll probably have questions to ask, till then thanks for the responses...

 

[HBuehler]

We have 5 of them

always 90-100% hatch rates..We never have them turned off and hatch hundreds with them.Like these much better than the Genesis.You never keep chicken eggs at 70% humidity until lockdown and then that is pretty high for a successful hatch.

 

[PunkinPeep]

I got one, and i love it.

My first hatch was pretty bad. But then i stopped trying to use those horrible water troughs and started using wet rags to keep my humidity, and i have had great hatches since then. I didn't get turner, but it's on my wish list. A turner would be awesome!

I read a great sticky on dry hatching, https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=113681 . It gets good about page 3. I used that information to style my methods for incubating, and it's great!

Personally, i wouldn't even bother reading the directions that come with the machine. I found them to be useless. But that's just me.

The machine, itself, i like a lot.